Morrowind - anti-walkthrough

[Tapewolf]

As some may know, I have a certain reputation for taking games, finding ways to break them and then writing a walkthrough based upon as many exploits as I could find.

I have now written one for Morrowind.  Not as many exploitable bugs as I would have liked, but it should prove amusing, hopefully even to people who haven't played it.

This is a kind of preview... if anyone can spot any errors that would be very handy since I haven't run it through a spellchecker.  If it looks OK to people I'll probably make the link live on the front page tomorrow.

http://www.it-he.org/morrow.htm

[bill]

I <3 U.


Incidentally, are you planning on getting Oblivion?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Damn funny. ;-]

Didn't spot any errors, though.

[Toric]

Awesome! I'm gonna have a look-see right now. Also, something unrelated that nevertheless I was curious about. How do you take screenshots on Morrowind?

Name and location nitpicks
In case you're interested, So and So's Ring = (Fargoth's) Engraved Ring of Healing)
Wizardry: Anjira = Ajira (also in Short of Staff)
Aldebaran (dunno if that's intentional) and Alderuhn = Ald Ruhn (also in Anniversary)
Confusion: What town or city is Mzahneh near? Or is it located on the paper map that comes with the game?

Kudos on the item names.

Anniversary: A-name place with puzzle cube = Arkngthand

Nice. Now I finally know what to do with that grand soul gem with a unique named ancestral ghost (You kill it as one of Skink-In-Tree-Shade's quests in Mage's Guild).

[Reese Tora]

nice anti-walkthrough there.

[Tapewolf]

Incidentally, are you planning on getting Oblivion?

No, because I've already got it 

It's on my todo list right after Bloodmoon, though it's going to take a major effort of will to keep it that way.

Awesome! I'm gonna have a look-see right now. Also, something unrelated that nevertheless I was curious about. How do you take screenshots on Morrowind?

**EDIT**
You may have to add 'Screen Shot Enable = 1' to the [general] section of your Morrowind.ini file.
After that, Printscreen should work.

In case you're interested, So and So's Ring = (Fargoth's) Engraved Ring of Healing)
Wizardry: Anjira = Ajira (also in Short of Staff)

I'll keep So-and-so.  Anjira is a mistake though.

Aldebaran (dunno if that's intentional)

That is (also Balmoral).

Alderuhn = Ald Ruhn (also in Anniversary)

That's wrong, thanks.

Confusion: What town or city is Mzahneh near? Or is it located on the paper map that comes with the game?

Yeah, that needs clarification - I must also note that the ruin by the Mudcrab is directly north of Bal Fell.

Anniversary: A-name place with puzzle cube = Arkngthand

Yeah, I could have looked that up, but I decided to leave it as a show of frustration at not being able to remember the names

Thanks guys.  Probably the next thing on the site will be a collection of weird Morrowind screenshots...

**EDIT**
Memo to self: 'Isildur's bane' is now used by the walkthrough.
"The only thing that's missing are the ability to mind-read. "
Fatleg's Dropoff is in Hla Oad, not Gnaar Mok.

[Toric]

It's strange, in the original non-GOTY Morrowind I distinctly remember being able to rest without enemies recovering HP. My main strategy for caves was to lead the enemy to the door and alternate between going outside and resting to full and going inside and having a slugfest. I'm sure you tested it though, must be a new feature along with the enemy health bars (Back in my day we didn't have those yellow health bars, sonny! We just had to keep hittin' and hope it went down before we did!)

It's pretty darn awesome that the vast majority of your strength at the end comes from enchanted items. The Toxic Cloud ring, the wizard's staff, and of course The Precious. What level were you when you killed Dagoth Ur anyway?

And just since I'm here.... ever notice the similarities between Slaughterfish and real-world lungfish?


The resemblance is uncanny.....

[Tapewolf]

It's strange, in the original non-GOTY Morrowind I distinctly remember being able to rest without enemies recovering HP.  I'm sure you tested it though, must be a new feature along with the enemy health bars

Most likely.  Proper resting was what I did when I was level 2 and it took me a while to realise why things weren't going to plan.

It's pretty darn awesome that the vast majority of your strength at the end comes from enchanted items. The Toxic Cloud ring, the wizard's staff, and of course The Precious. What level were you when you killed Dagoth Ur anyway?

In that test run he was actually level 30, since he had to do all the Archmage stuff.  You could probably cut that out entirely if you wanted to, and take it on from level 6 or 7.  The only snag I see being that you have to have snagged enough gold to make all the enchanted knicknacks.

And just since I'm here.... ever notice the similarities between Slaughterfish and real-world lungfish?

Yes...

[Azraelle]

That's a hilarious guide.  So many memories.

Did you know that it's still possible to complete the main quest even if you've killed Lord Vivec, though?  Normally, when you do the quest properly, he'll give you the Big Glove Thing that lets you hold the other two Big Artifacts that otherwise kill you.  If you kill him first, search his body for the Artefact.  It's the same thing but with the anti-kill feature de-activated.  You can take it to the Dwemer guy in the Corprusarium and he'll be able to activate it, and all will be well.

[Tapewolf]

That's a hilarious guide.  So many memories.

Thanks.

For those who are curious about the art, the banner at the top of the page was made by overlaying a cleaned-up version of the Ti'Fiona pictures against the original lineart, complete with the blue pencilmarks, to make them fade into the sketches like in the original.  Abel doesn't because I don't have the lineart for him
Probably the most difficult part was deleting the Siltstrider from the backdrop.

Did you know that it's still possible to complete the main quest even if you've killed Lord Vivec, though?  Normally, when you do the quest properly, he'll give you the Big Glove Thing that lets you hold the other two Big Artifacts that otherwise kill you.  If you kill him first, search his body for the Artefact.  It's the same thing but with the anti-kill feature de-activated.  You can take it to the Dwemer guy in the Corprusarium and he'll be able to activate it, and all will be well.

Yes, I've read about that.  I've also read rumours that it's possible to perform other rituals at the Heart.  If anyone knows if it's possible, I wanna know how 

[Azraelle]

There's nothing stated in the official guide about stuff you can do with the heart, but that's not saying it's absolutely pointless to try.

[rt]

@Tapewolf

If you've not seen it morrowind wikibook
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Morrowind
not sure if these rituals are in there.

[Dannysaysnoo]

wow, dude, you are my favorite web guy ever, and i know you are english, don't you hide it!

also, are you gonna do any more FPS's?

[Tapewolf]

wow, dude, you are my favorite web guy ever, and i know you are english, don't you hide it!

I don't think I've ever tried to hide it 

also, are you gonna do any more FPS's?

There's not much fun in doing a straight-up FPS like Doom or Quake since without a storyline and anything much in the way of goals or scenarios to subvert.  RPGs are always best.  Arx was fun although a bit limited in your ability to screw it around since the devs had covered practically every single possibility.  Deus Ex had some good stuff, but Thief 1 and 2 ended up more like reviews than proper walkthroughs, and SS2 was pretty limited as well.

I am planning a few additions to the Morrowind walkthrough, e.g. some of the weirder screenshots and a short section on the Alchemy feedback loop.  Then, when I've maxed out all of cat-dude's major skills, minor skills and innate abilities, I'm going to get cracking on Tribunal and Bloodmoon.  After that, Oblivion.

[Dannysaysnoo]

i did mean, by FPS's, the ones you can break, i dont know alot of them, i only ever heard of system shock because i was looking for a Deus Ex guide and got linked to you. i thought that Deus Ex - Sunglasses At Night was amazing, all the stuff with Gary savage, and the wierd red spinning image, amazing how you found all this.

[Tapewolf]

i thought that Deus Ex - Sunglasses At Night was amazing, all the stuff with Gary savage, and the wierd red spinning image, amazing how you found all this.

Thanks.  I'll admit I had some idea of things to try by that point, but most of them were discovered by accident.  The spinning thing was because I wanted to explore the edges of the map.

What did irk me with Deus Ex was that it was a series of maps with no way back to previous sections.  With Morrowind and most of the Ultima games the entire world is basically accessible from the start (although U9 tried vehemently to prevent it).
In Ultima 9 we managed to complete the game in more-or-less reverse order, despite its attempts to barricade you into particular areas of the world.  The infamous 'bridge made of bread' put paid to that, although I can't claim credit for the technique of using bottles to climb mountains.  (Or LAMs to climb skyscrapers in Deus Ex, come to that).

Deus Ex is easily the most popular one judging from the amount of traffic it generates.
I do think my favourite is probably 'Serpent Isle' which my brother and I practically raped.  He found the key techniques to make it come apart (staircases made from bread...) but AFAIK it remains the only game which starts to issue debug messages because of  the terrible things we did to it.

The original walkthrough was for Ultima 8, back in 1995/96 as I recall.  Again, that was originally made possible by something evil which my brother did.  I can't quite remember the moment when I realised there were enough bugs to make an interesting walkthrough...

I've also done a few things with Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but not enough to make a complete page unfortunately.  I have on occasion been musing a sort of 'scraps' page...

[Dannysaysnoo]

i think, when they do the third Deus Ex, it should be a lot more exploration based, requiring past level returns, because then we might get it in reverse again!

[Janus Whitefurr]

e of using bottles to climb mountains.  (Or LAMs to climb skyscrapers in Deus Ex, come to that).
Deus Ex is easily the most popular one judging from the amount of traffic it generates.

My friend and I, when discussing Deus Ex, have you to blame for this: Whenever we quote the fusion of the two AIs, we both admitted to always mentally replacing it with Jock and Black Helicopter.

YOUR FAULT.

[Fuyudenki]

I haven't played half of these games, and I get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I haven't played the other half either, and I still get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I may have to play Deus Ex, though.

[Dannysaysnoo]

I haven't played half of these games, and I get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I haven't played the other half either, and I still get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I may have to play Deus Ex, though.

you really should, its one of the best ef pee ess arr pee gees out there, much better than new ones, like bioshock.

[bill]

I haven't played half of these games, and I get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I haven't played the other half either, and I still get a kick out of your break-throughs.

I may have to play Deus Ex, though.

you really should, its one of the best ef pee ess arr pee gees out there, much better than new ones, like bioshock.

Is it really necessary to post "ef pee ess arr pee gees"?

[Dannysaysnoo]

well, thats what it is.

Oh tapewolf, your right, too high acrobatics really does make the game cry